If People Only Knew

how terrible teachers really have it in this country, and how risky it is for them to speak out on ANYTHING, let alone about cheating on standardized tests, perhaps all of the "reforms" would be tossed into the garbage can where they belong:

A few teachers such as Cotton are speaking up about this. Fifth-grade teacher Sarah Wysocki did so in my Post colleague Bill Turque’s recent examination of the D.C. teacher evaluation system. If more educators reveal what they know, school district leaders may be shamed into finally launching a deep, aggressive investigation into the corruption that threatens to ruin their heartfelt efforts to save the city’s kids.

Cotton worked hard at Davis. He said his evaluations from classroom observers got better as the year went on. But his students failed to outdo their suspiciously high fourth-grade scores to save his job. Those test results counted 50 percent in Cotton’s final evaluation. He was not allowed to come back this year despite what he said were Riddlesprigger’s efforts to save him. Riddlesprigger did not respond to a request for comment.

Mathews doesn't understand how little power teachers really have to make a difference.